SUZI TAYLOR

SUZI TAYLOR: "dance trends and training have shifted—e.g. the often indefinable style of contemporary has become a mainstream favorite. “There’s some beautiful contemporary work happening professionally that I really admire, but I worry when young dancers attempt it and don’t understand where the movements are coming from. It takes them out of the process of training, and that’s not doing much to prepare them for their professional life.”

Suzi Taylor: Technicians like Taylor are rare in today’s choreography-obsessed industry, where classes outside the codified forms quite rarely reach beyond the stretch-and-learn-a-combo equation. “Style has become a technique and it drives me crazy,” says Taylor, who teaches with New York City Dance Alliance and at Steps on Broadway. “You almost have to threaten kids to take ballet these days.”